Leveraging Non-Dilutive Funding for Ultra-Rare Disease Development with Dr. George Magrath Opus Genetics TRANSCRIPT
Release Date: 09/08/2025
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Empowered Patient Podcast
Dr. George Magrath, CEO of Opus Genetics, discusses the company's experience in obtaining non-dilutive funding for its ultra-rare inherited retinal disease program. He highlights the challenges and advantages of this funding source, as well as the importance of establishing relationships with patient advocacy groups and foundations to mitigate risk and increase their attractiveness to traditional investors. The drive for non-dilutive funding for ultra-rare diseases is expected to become increasingly important in helping to get drugs to clinical trials. George explains, "Opus Genetics is a...
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Leveraging Non-Dilutive Funding for Ultra-Rare Disease Development with Dr. George Magrath Opus Genetics
Empowered Patient Podcast
Dr. George Magrath, CEO of Opus Genetics, discusses the company's experience in obtaining non-dilutive funding for its ultra-rare inherited retinal disease program. He highlights the challenges and advantages of this funding source, as well as the importance of establishing relationships with patient advocacy groups and foundations to mitigate risk and increase their attractiveness to traditional investors. The drive for non-dilutive funding for ultra-rare diseases is expected to become increasingly important in helping to get drugs to clinical trials. George explains, "Opus Genetics is a...
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AI Revolutionizing Drug Development Regulatory Documentation and FDA Submission with Lindsay Mateo Weave
Empowered Patient Podcast
Lindsay Mateo is the Chief Commercial Officer at Weave. This company has developed a platform to automate and streamline the regulatory documentation process for FDA submission for pharmaceutical and biotech companies. The regulatory lifecycle for drug development currently involves data from various sources in digital and paper formats. Weave Bio's tools are designed to automate and streamline administrative aspects of the regulatory process and create a living digital record of the development of the drug, which supports collaboration and saves time. Lindsay explains, "I look at the...
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Streamlining the Process for Accessing Medical Marijuana Cards with Aspen Noonan Elevate Holistics
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Aspen Noonan, CEO of Elevate Holistics, a company that helps patients obtain medical marijuana cards through a telehealth consultation with licensed doctors. The qualifications for obtaining a medical marijuana card vary by state, and Elevate Holistics helps patients navigate the regulatory landscape. Many doctors are hesitant to recommend cannabis due to the federal illegality and restrictions from employers, and Elevate Holistics is filling the gaps by connecting patients looking for alternative treatments for conditions such as anxiety, depression, PTSD, and chronic pain. Aspen explains,...
info_outlineDr. George Magrath, CEO of Opus Genetics, discusses the company's experience in obtaining non-dilutive funding for its ultra-rare inherited retinal disease program. He highlights the challenges and advantages of this funding source, as well as the importance of establishing relationships with patient advocacy groups and foundations to mitigate risk and increase their attractiveness to traditional investors. The drive for non-dilutive funding for ultra-rare diseases is expected to become increasingly important in helping to get drugs to clinical trials.
George explains, "Opus Genetics is a gene therapy company for eye disorders that occur in children. And these disorders are ultra-rare. It's 200 patients, a thousand patients per indication, and it's really good science. It's from Gene Bennett, who was the inventor of Luxturna, which was the first approved genetic medicine. And it does require some non-conventional thought on the financing, though, because these are so rare. And what we've done at Opus Genetics and have been really fortunate to be a part of is non-diluted funding from external sources. And that comes in the form of partnerships with patient families and organizations, like we just announced last week with RDH 12 Alliance."
" It also comes with the Foundation Fighting Blindness, which has given us a number of grants and non-dilutive funding deals. And so those have been really important to Opus and have really helped us progress the programs. The way we think about that is the first principle is the clinical data we typically generate using our equity dollars. The preclinical work we try to do with non-dilutive funding, and that way we're able to focus on spending in rare scenarios."
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